mega thread Princess Luna: A Royal Attitude Problem?

[Anthony4Leaf 11]

And here I am again, posting a pretty lengthy rant about another one of Equestria’s princesses by… almost the end of October, another year later.

This is going to be a somewhat short rant, but a rant nonetheless; one I’ve been holding in for way too long, haha. Anyhow, as poll results on this website show, Luna is arguably one of the most beloved MLP:FiM characters of all time, at least when it comes to the fandom. Back in the super early days of the Brony fandom, Celestia hate was way more common than it is now, and Luna “glazing” – as the younger generation puts it – was nothing out of the ordinary, really; a phenomenon that is almost contrasting in-universe, where Luna went berserk because she believed that nobody liked her as much as they did Celestia. This isn’t to say that the ponies of Equestria did not like Luna, though; she was happily welcomed back to Equestria at the end of the two-parter pilot, and quickly grew on the ponies in “Luna Eclipsed” (essentially her “debut” episode, in a way) – followed by “Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?”, where the ponies were seen bowing to her out of what seemed like admiration and genuine excitement to see her. She also seems to be popular with the kids. But… I do have a small theory on why the ponies could’ve possibly disliked – or at the very least, feared – Luna back in the old days, when she and Celestia had just begun ruling Equestria together.

I would like to preface this by saying that I am not a Celestia fan; I’m actually not a fan of either her or Luna (you might recognize me as the author of that long post I wrote last year, titled “Why I still hate Princess Celestia, four years later”), but I practically never see people talking about Luna’s flaws in fandom discussions, so I wanted to bring this up.

One of Luna’s biggest flaws are her severe anger issues. One could argue that she’s the more emotional of the two, since she’s more of a melancholic loner type. Logically, that should make her relatable to people such as myself – a person on the spectrum who just happens to be very sensitive and emotional, and prone to analyzing everything in depth. But I just cannot relate to a pony whose attitude is almost… bratty at times.

Starting with the Nightmare Night episode, she quickly went from simply misunderstood (mostly due to the fact that she’s spent the last millennium trapped on the Moon, and was therefore unfamiliar with modern-day Equestrian customs, making it harder for her to fit in) to downright tyrannical!

Luna first snaps after her semi-successful attempt at rescuing Pipsqueak (a very young child) from the mystery water pool filled with bobbing apples; I say semi-successful because while she does end up saving Pipsqueak from drowning, she is slandered by Pinkie (the true villain of the episode, if you ask me), who loudly refers to her as “Nightmare Moon” and accuses her of trying to eat Pipsqueak and tells the rest of the children to run, which, of course, rightfully upsets Luna. The way she chooses to deal with the situation isn’t entirely justified, however; after Pipsqueak plays along and runs away shouting “help, my back has been gobbled!”, Luna gets downright mad, and calls Pipsqueak – a literal young impressionable child – an “ungrateful whelp” (which, if you didn’t know, is another word for a puppy in Ye Olde Englishe) while shouting at him. Not super mature or very princess-like, if you ask me; it comes across as derogatory and almost dictator-like. The ponies immediately sense the aggression in her tone and begin to slowly back off.

Next, Luna decides to blatantly cancel Nightmare Night – a holiday beloved by many – because she believes it to be an “insulting celebration”. Honestly, I kind of do get her point here; I do agree that Celestia probably shouldn’t have allowed the ponies to demonize her own sister like that for literal centuries during her absence – but my point still stands, as Luna behaves aggressively shortly before her grand cancellation speech, even going as far as to say “don’t run away – as your princess, we command you!” – which, again, sounds very bratty, petty and power-hungry to me. She then switches to her Royal Canterlot Voice once again, commanding the ponies to “be still”. The post-Nightmare Night cancellation sequence is followed by crying children and overall unhappy ponies cleaning up the mess that they’ve made.

This is a very minor thing that I might be blowing out of proportion, but she uses magic to push Pinkie away from the mirror in the first Equestria Girls movie while looking annoyed (maybe she’s still holding a grudge against Pinkie after the Nightmare Night incident?). She does the same thing to Starlight after the latter tries to resolve the conflict between her and Celestia in “A Royal Problem”:

Equestria Girls:

"A Royal Problem":

Luna is also pretty useless (and bratty) during the Equestria Games torch lighting ceremony, where she lets out a yawn to let the crowd know that she’s getting bored of the long wait, despite the 

fact that it probably meaning that her subjects are having trouble with something and need help:

Bonus:

My Little Pony: Friends Forever Issue 14:

My Little Pony: Legends of Magic Issue 3:

So, here’s my theory about why the ponies might’ve not liked Luna back in the early days of Equestria, causing her to go berserk and force everypony into appreciating her and her night.

What do you think? Do you agree with the points I’ve brought up?

Does the fandom’s “best princess” really have anger issues? Or am I just being too harsh? Either way, thanks for making it this far, if you did. Hope you have a good day. /)

[Ishmael 85]

I noticed Luna's same slights and thoughtless, if mostly innocuous, gaffes, and they bothered me as well. I suppose mismanaged anger could explain her behavior, but it feels more like careless writing to me. It's a shame, as Luna's deep wounds enabled a potentially great character, but we only see a little of this. 

[SidewinderX 207]

You must recall that Princess Luna has been stuck in the moon for a thousand years, without any contact with others. Her social skills are going to be mediocre at best, and completely outdated to boot. Princess Luna's reaction to Nightmare Night, while not necessarily justified, is logical, and frankly, the existence of such a holiday bothers me as well. It quite literally exists only to demonize Luna and her alter ego. Her commanding the ponies to listen is indicative of her absolute disconnect with the citizens of Equestria and modern-day customs, as is to be expected when Celestia doesn't seem to care much about her sister's reintegration. Your statement that she is 'bratty and power-hungry' makes no sense. She's a princess, born and raised in a period where commanding ponies in such a way was considered normal for royalty. Not to mention that she has basically been getting villified by Pinkie and co. the whole time. Calling her tyrannical is a gross exaggeration.

As for your other citations, they are trivial at best. Luna pulling Pinkie's hoof away from the portal is well within her boundaries. Pinkie is touching a potentially dangerous item that she does not own and has no right or qualifications to handle. The incidents in A Royal Problem, while not exactly prime behavior, are hardly worth labelling as tyrannical or bratty. She is exhausted, annoyed, and Starlight is—in her view—interrupting their conversation. A conversation, I must note, that is between two co-rulers of a large nation. As for Equestria Games, well, one could make the same arguments for Celestia, Cadence, Twilight, or any other Element Bearer or event staffer who failed to assist. Luna's yawning is overdramatic, but, as I stated previously, part of her adherence to old customs. It simply isn't that serious. The comics...aren't even worth really addressing. The siren pony is annoying, and the castle being delayed is not only an inconvenience but also incredibly expensive due to the logistics of building such a structure.

Really, your post seems to be blowing things wildly out of proportion. Princess Luna's actions, while not strictly good, are excusable and logical given the circumstances of her banishment and treatment after return. The events of Luna Eclipsed were caused by needless provocation and escalation by Pinkie Pie, which frustrated Luna and damaged her attempts to make amends with the townsfolk.

[Dawnshine Wonder 4,322]

I never read the comics so I cannot comment too much about them, although from what I do know of them, by scans I've seen posted from other people, I cannot say I like that version of Princess Celestia as it depicted her to be bullying toward her younger sister Luna for not learning magic as quickly as her. Considering that Princess Celestia was created to inspire friendship in her kingdom, it does seem out of character, why would a Pony, who wishes to inspire positivity and loyalty of her kingdom, do something like that? true, some Ponies were corrupt before they redeemed later on, but in Princess Celestia's case it just does not fit.

I'm not saying Princess Celestia has to be perfect either, even in the TV show, she does appear to have what some people may view as "crude and inappropriate humor" like her smiling about her pet Phoenix turning to ash though Phoenixes are immortal and Celestia is well aware of this, it is understandable why some people would think that way about Celestia, but given she has ruled Equestria for over 1,000 years, I would come to expect that of Celestia, why? because let's be honest, ruling a kingdom for such a long time would be very boring, for anyone, could I handle that pressure? no, if this were me, I would've retired long ago, I would not have the strength to rule a kingdom for 10 years, let alone 1,000. Not that it excuses Celestia in situations where she has made a mistake, however a job like that is very tough, from decreeing laws that are helpful, not just at a whim, to actively engaging with the public.

 

In the TV show, Princess Celestia's behavior is sometimes good, however there were clear signs of neglect toward her sister Princess Luna, unresolved issues that caused Luna to behave the way she did in Royal Problem. Princess Luna was not being "bratty" here, she made gestures of kindness toward others in Canterlot castle, like placing lavender around the place at night, and her gestures of kindness were seemingly forgotten about or ignored. I'd be upset too, if somebody else in my family kept behaving as if I did not exist and they did not have a good excuse for it, there comes a point where ignorance does become toxic. Even small acts of kindness, can mean a lot to somebody.

I've seen good criticisms of both Celestia and Luna, and some bad ones, but I would hardly call either of them "tyrannical", I've seen far worse behavior from royalty from other fictions, where their actions were much less redeemable or excusable.

Edited November 15 by Dawnshine Wonder